The Lies They Told by Ellen Marie Wiseman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement – when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin – in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope

 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.  A free book was provided for an honest review.

July 2025; Kensington; 978-1496758064
audio ebook, print (384 pages); historical fiction

The Lies They Told is one of those rare books that touch your heart with characters that stay in your memory.  It's about a terrible time in American history that we weren't taught in school and is rarely even written about.  Despite all of the horrific events in the book, the overall feeling is one of hope and love for other people, despite what others try to do to them.

Lena is a young unwed mother who comes to America from Germany with her mother, brother, and 2-year-old daughter.  After a terrible journey in steerage, they arrive at Ellis Island hoping to begin their new lives.  A distant cousin was going to provide work for her mother and brother and had paid their fare, but didn't know that Lena and her daughter would also be arriving.  When they arrive on Ellis Island, they are appalled at how they are treated.  Her mother and brother are not allowed to stay in the US and are deemed burdens to society and sent back to Germany. Lena is allowed to stay, but the distant cousin, Silas,  is not pleased but reluctantly agrees to take her to his cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to help take care of his home and two children.  She is worried when she finds out the two young children have been taught to hide when the sheriff comes around, and she wonders if her daughter is in danger.  Despite the friendliness of her neighbors, she still worries about the safety of her daughter and her two young charges.  She is horrified when she finds out the State of Virginia is scheming to paint them as ignorant, immoral, and backward so they can evict them from their land, seize children from parents, and deal with those possessing “inferior genes.”  When Lena is accused of promiscuity for living with a man, she is sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, and her daughter, as well as Silas's two children, are taken away.  All of the women in the 'home' are treated horribly, and she longs to get out and find her daughter again.  

Lena is a beautiful and well-written main character.  Despite what she goes through on Ellis Island and missing her mother and brother, she decides to make the best of her opportunity to start a new life.  The two children learn to trust and love her, and despite Silas's strict attitude, life is going well for her as she learns how to live off the land.  She is thankful for her new life and her new friends in the community.   She is strong and resilient and vows to find her daughter despite all of the roadblocks that the government has in place to keep her from reuniting with her.  Her quest to find her daughter was heartbreaking, but she never gave up. Lena is a character that I won't soon forget as she struggles against the cruel mandates of the government and the believers in eugenics.

The author has done extensive research, and it shows on every page.  Her characters are all well-written and impossible to forget.  It isn't a political book at all, but the story reminds us that discrimination against other people still exists in our world, and we need to remember the events of the past to make sure that they aren't repeated in the future.

Buy The Lies They Told at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

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